18 March 2010
Square Foot Gardening – My Experience So Far
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated you on my life. I’m sure you were worried. I have actually been thinking quite a bit about investing recently (including researching some of the methods utilized in day trading), but right now I’m spending more time becoming one with nature. OK, not exactly, but I have been putting a bit of time into starting up a vegetable and fruit garden for this summer in my back yard. My main concerns with a garden were two-fold. First, our garden boxes have not been maintained over the years so they are overrun with weeds. I’m talking five foot tall weeds during the summer. Secondly, we have quite a bit of wildlife around and I am concerned that rabbits and squirrels will harvest most of my produce. In the past years, I never had much time for tending a garden. Just keeping the lawn mowed was difficult enough. This year, I am working a 4-day work week which affords me a 3-day weekend every week. I think I’ll be able to spend a much more significant amount of time with my garden. It’s great for me and the kids to get outside and enjoy the summer months.
After a bit of research, I decided that I would attempt to put together a square foot garden. This would alleviate both of my issues stated above. First of all, I could build the garden box above-ground which allows me to put weed-blocking materials below. Secondly, I am able to build a cage around the garden to keep away the scavengers. basically, it is a very contained ecosystem, yet still exposed to the needed elements. I have built a 4 foot by 4 foot box that is 6 inches deep and divided it into 16 equal square foot sections with garden twine. I then filled the box with a mixture of peat moss, compost and other soil.
I then built a cage out of a simple wooden frame and chicken wire which I stapled to the frame. The frame can be easily lifted off of the garden box, but hopefully not by rabbits. I cannot even imagine having to work with chicken wire on a daily basis. This stuff is the spawn of the devil. Actually, after immediately slicing my finger as soon as I tried to unwind the roll, I quickly discovered that I should be wearing leather gloves when handling. The difficulty of handling is apparent by viewing the pictures. Not exactly pretty.
Currently I’m working on sprouting the seeds inside and waiting for the outdoor frost potential to subside. I’m also working on a system for making my own compost from household waste for future use in the garden. I’m leaning towards buying a pound of redworms and letting them do the work. There is quite a bit of information on “vermiposting” on the internet. Pictures of these other endeavours will be forthcoming.
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2 Comments currently posted.
Ron says:
matthew says:
Thanks for the comment Ron. It would be nice to have a large area dedicated for seeds, but I’m starting out small this year with one tray of seeds. I believe there are 72 slots and we have 70 of them filled right now. Most have sprouted and I can’t wait to get them outside.
Chicken wire is spawn of the devil — lol! I used chicken wire when I was in high school to create our homecoming floats (almost 3 decades ago … ). I’d have to agree with you on the gloves.
Before I started traveling so much with my job, I loved to garden and used to raise everything from seed. I had an unusually large laundry room that I shelved from floor to ceiling and installed grow lights with tray after tray of little plants. It looked like a drug dealer’s house I’m sure but everything I grew was legal!
It’s amazing how much one little plot of land can grow if you tend it properly.